Oil Pump

[Guest chris]

Am at the planning stage of fitting stage 2 head and fr32 cam,do I need to replace oil pump with high pressure type or leave as is?If I do need to change pump

is it an engine out job?Also,I seem to remember something said about prop shafts,

did RH change over to a different type because of failure on early sierra type sevens?

regards chris

(ps .I know the car was for sale to fund another project,that worked out too costly

so have decided to keep her.)

[ibrooks]

Chris,

If your oil pump is up to scratch then it shouldn't need changing. But depending on how old it is and what you are relying on to report that your oil pressure is OK you may want to change it anyway. The warning light is a very crude indicator of pressure and it can really be quite low but the light will still go out. The main thing is to be sure that you have plenty of the slippery stuff around. If you have a guage make sure it shows healthy pressure and you should be OK. If you do change the pump you only need to get the sump off and have reasonable working room in a line directly below the dizzy. This may of course mean removing the engine from your car but normally changing the pump shouldn't require removing the block (I can't imagine being able to do it on my S7 without removing the engine but I think I could do it OK on my 2B). The dizzy will have to come out as the shaft which drives it also drives the pump and if you're fitting an uprated pump you should also ideally fit a stronger drive shaft (never heard of one failing but....). You may also need a special spline bit to remove the two bolts that hold the pump in place.

 

Oh and if you are changing the cam make sure the spray-bar is new or squeaky clean as this is a common area for problems when one of the holes gets blocked. If you get a cam kit there should be a new one anyway.

 

Iain